


Did You Miss Me?

by lookinginthelight



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode: s01e14 The Christmas Invasion, F/M, Gen, Introspection, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-03
Updated: 2014-01-03
Packaged: 2018-01-07 08:41:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1117834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lookinginthelight/pseuds/lookinginthelight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During The Christmas Invasion, the Doctor slips in and out of awareness while he's still in his post-regeneration coma.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Did You Miss Me?

**Author's Note:**

> For a Secret Santa Fic. My prompt was "Ten reacting to Rose after he first regenerates in The Christmas Invasion"

The Doctor was buzzing with too much regeneration energy to realize that Rose Tyler was terrified. Not a minute ago, she’d recoiled from him- half asked him to change back - but he’d forgotten already. Now they were rocketing through the time vortex, towards London and Christmas Eve.

  
  
They crashed and banged their way into London- finally skidding to a stop when the TARDIS knocked over some bins. The Doctor popped his head outside the TARDIS, hoping he’d at least come close.  
  
“Here we are then. London, Earth, solar system…I did it!” He stepped out of the TARDIS to Jackie and Mickey’s stunned faces. “Jackie, Mickey - blimey!”  
  
He paced around them, their expressions of shock and confusion not registering. “Wait there. What was I gonna say?” The Doctor was still walking in circles, trying to regain his breath “No, no, no, no-there was something I had to tell you, something important. What was it!?” The Doctor braced himself on the two of them- whether for emphasis or to keep himself upright, he couldn’t tell. “No hold on, hold on. Shh, shhh, sshh, shh.” He was beginning to get dizzy. “Oh, I know!” He tightened his grip on them and a grin overtook his face.  
  
“Merry Christmas!”  
  
Everything went hazy, and then black.   
  
The Doctor fell to the ground.  
  
—  
  
The first sensation that entered the Doctor’s awareness was that of fabric sliding over his skin. His old jacket and jumper had hung loose on his new lean frame, and now they were being pulled from him. He tried to open his mouth to speak, but nothing happened.   
  
He felt a cool cloth against his forehead, and then on his neck. He wondered if he’d grown feverish in response to the overload of regeneration energy. Hands pulled him into a sitting position.  
  
 _Rose._  The Doctor whispered her name in his mind. Rose didn’t hear, of course.   
  
Rose didn’t say anything, but the Doctor was certain it was her hands supporting him and carefully wiping the sweat from his back. When her skin brushed his, he could sense her once unwavering loyalty now shaken by confusion and panic.  
  
 _Rose, it really is me. Honestly._  He’d hoped that she’d somehow hear him. He  _was_  telepathic through touch.  _Rose!_  
  
Still nothing.  
  
He heard someone else walk into the room. Footsteps approached him and helped Rose support his weight. Jackie. He heard the rustling of fabric and then felt his arms being slid into shirtsleeves. They buttoned the shirt, and guided the Doctor’s head to the pillow.   
  
The Doctor felt his belt being unbuckled and his trousers being pulled from his waist. He  _really_  hoped that wasn’t Jackie. Maybe they even had the sense to ask Mickey to help. Knuckles brushed his hip as pajamas were pulled onto him- it was Rose. He could tell she was blushing. He grinned up at her(or he would have, if he had any muscle control).   
  
From what he could tell, Jackie had left the room. Rose pulled the covers up to his chest and sat next to him, silently. The Doctor wished she’d say  _something_.   
  
 _Rose, talk to me, please._  He guessed she still didn’t quite trust him. The last expression he remembered on her face was one of horror. He wanted to do something about that, but he couldn’t. The Doctor felt sleep trying to overtake him. He wanted to stay conscious. Even if he couldn’t do anything, Rose was with him. If she was going to talk to him, he wanted to be awake for it.  
  
The bed creaked and the Doctor felt Rose shift her weight. She leaned forward and combed her fingers through his hair. The Doctor felt chills run down his body.  
  
“Please be okay.”  
  
 _Rose, I’m fine._  
  
“I know you need to rest, but wake up soon, ‘kay?” Rose pulled her hand away. “It’s almost Christmas!”   
  
 _Rose, I’m trying._  The Doctor felt himself fading. A door closed somewhere else in the flat. He couldn’t stay awake anymore, and slipped away into sleep.  
  
—  
  
The Doctor blinked his eyes open. The familiar wires and computers of Satellite Five surrounded him. He looked down at his hands- it appeared that he was back in his leather jacket (and from what he could tell, his old body). Everything seemed frozen: there was no sound, no movement. Daleks weren’t approaching, the shouts of men and echoes of gunfire had ceased to exist: everything had settled into an unnerving silence.  
  
The Doctor turned to look at the bright light behind him. Everything sprang back into motion. The sounds of battle filled the room, but the Doctor’s senses locked on the source of light.  
  
Rose.  
  
She was glowing yellow, terrifyingly beautiful, the Bad Wolf- but she was crying.  
  
He remembered this part.  
  
 _I think you need a Doctor._  
  
—

The sounds of chaos didn’t fade when he slipped from his dream. He heard a whirring, something crashing through the flat. He thought he was still dreaming until he heard Jackie’s indiscernable screams. Rose’s hands closed around his arm.  
  
“Doctor, wake up!”  
  
He wanted to- he tried to wake himself, to sit upright, to do  _something_.   
  
 _Wake up, wake up, WAKE UP!_  
  
Nothing worked. Rose’s hands had left his arms.  _Rose, where are you?_  
  
He felt something cool and metal slip into his hand.  _My sonic!_  But he still couldn’t move. The whirring grew louder, closer. The Doctor heard a squealed “ _I’m gonna get killed by a Christmas tree!_ "   
  
 _Why can’t I wake up?_  
  
A second of calm, then familiar lips brushed his ear.  
  
“Help me.”  
  
The Doctor shot upright before he realized he was awake, and pointed his screwdriver towards the noise. The Christmas tree exploded (Jackie hadn’t been exaggerating). In the silence that followed, the Doctor felt everyone’s eyes on him.   
  
“Remote control- but who’s controlling it?”  
  
He rose from the bed and walked outside. He pulled his dressing gown around him. Mickey was talking, but the Doctor didn’t listen. He peered over the balcony and pointed his screwdriver at the Santas. He tried to arrange his new face into the most threatening expression he could, and the Santas teleported away.  
  
“Pilot fish.”  
  
“What?” The Doctor just realized everyone else was still here.  
  
“They were just pilot fish.”  
  
Pain surged through his body. The regeneration energy was still in him. He shouldn’t be awake yet. He was having a neuron implosion, he knew, but he had to explain this before he collapsed again.  
  
—  
  
The Doctor floated back to consciousness and realized he was tucked in bed again.   
  
 _Was there really an apple in my pocket?_  
  
The last thing he remembered was holding on to Rose, trying to stay conscious long enough to explain. He could barely breathe, and he was  _freezing_. He felt a cold cloth against his forehead- if he was assessing himself correctly, he now had a fever. He knew he needed to rest, but he wanted to keep himself conscious as long as Rose was with him. At that thought, he felt Rose get up.  
  
 _No, Rose- don’t leave._  
  
The Doctor tried to listen to what they were doing in the other room of the flat. The news was on- surely whoever sent the Santas had made a stir by now.  
  
He tried to stay conscious as long as he could, but his brain needed time to heal. He swam in and out of consciousness for he couldn’t tell how long. Jackie, of all people, sat next to him, asking what he needed. As if he could respond. He fell in and out of awareness, and still she sat by his bedside.  
  
And once, he swore, he heard Mickey’s voice: “You really love him, don’t you?” But to no response.  
  
 _Wait..Rose?_  
  
The Doctor tried desperately to keep himself awake. But Rose hadn’t said anything.  
  
He didn’t realize he’d slipped away again until he felt himself being lifted from the bed. Rose had him by his arms, and from what he could tell through the shouting, Mickey had his feet. His head was far too fuzzy now to make out what they were saying, but he knew instantly when they laid him on the floor of his TARDIS. That was the last thing he remembered.  
—  
  
Images flashed on the screens of his eyelids.  
  
Thousands of people in simple robes, crying with joy.  
A man turned beast.  
A stone goddess.  
An infinite chasm imprisoning an ancient beast.  
A white, blank wall.  
Cybermen, Daleks, statues of angels.  
Burning skies, waterfalls of crystal, worlds covered in snow.   
A kiss on a beach that had once held so much pain.  
His body pressed against Rose’s under simple sheets.  
  
 _He’d heard somewhere that Time Lords could dream of the future._  
—  
  
The Doctor snapped awake.   
  
Outside, he heard yelling in a voice he didn’t understand.  
  
And then Rose Tyler’s voice, “If I can hear English… then it’s being translated. Which means it’s working. Which means…” Rose paused.  _She_  knew he was awake too.  
  
The Doctor smiled. He loved to make an entrance. He pulled the doors open with a grin.  
  
 _"Did you miss me?"_


End file.
